The Gabon midfielder’s best impressions had come with Lee Cattermole and Jan Kirchhoff behind him, a luxury he has not had for some time.

Cattermole will not be seen until the spring at the earliest, but Kirchhoff’s return could be on the horizon.

The former Bayern Munich man has recovered from a hamstring injury and may need just a game or two under his belt before resuming.

Despite falling to the basement again following the defeat on Merseyside, Sunderland could not only climb off the bottom with a win over Leicester, they could even get out of the bottom three.

Having Kirchhoff using his astute brain and Ndong his boundless energy, it would give the Black Cats a stronger midfield unit.

It has to be added at this point that the rest of the midfield at Anfield more than did their bit.

Jason Denayer, having started as the man to mark home dangerman Philippe Coutinho, put in a tremendous shift, as did Steven Pienaar before tiring.

Duncan Watmore will have left L4 frustrated that he did not put Sunderland ahead with one of the chances of the afternoon, but that should not detract from a top effort. There were more positives than negatives, with Ndong at the top of the list.

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